Chapter 8: Alien
After their discussion outside the ruined city, Shadow followed the group as they headed to meet up with the taller Knuckles and see what he'd found for the last Chaos Emerald.
Sure enough, there was another clockwork gate with a colorless emerald sitting amongst the gears waiting to be freed.
Waiting for them in front of the portal set into the gears was the taller version of Knuckles.
"No good," said the echidna as they approached. "It's some giant mech of Eggman's in there, and it's dead as a doornail from all the Chaos Energy spikes. We'll have to get creative if we want to free the emerald."
The rest of them exchanged glances.
"Soooo, who's fighting this time?" asked Sonic Wachowski.
"We know it can't be two people from our world," said Tails Wachowski. "We don't want the power clash to create another shockwave."
"Disappointing," muttered Knuckles Wachowski (while Shadow knew that he didn't take the name, it was easier to think of him as such with his counterpart around). "But I would settle for fighting someone from this new world."
"I'd be up for a spar," offered Silver.
"I would as well," agreed Blaze, lighting a small flame in her hand. ("She's a princess and she's a firebender? Why is everyone you know so cool?" Sonic whisper-shouted to his taller counterpart when he saw it. Taller Sonic just grinned smugly and shrugged.)
"I bet I could give you a run for your money," said Vector, rolling his shoulders to get ready.
"It would be an honor to spar with any of you," agreed Espio.
"I'm always down for a rumble," said the taller Knuckles.
"Me too," said Amy, spinning her hammer in her hands.
"You know me, I never back down from a challenge," said the taller Sonic.
The younger Sonic nodded and bounced on his feet to do mock punches.
"Count me in too," said Sonic eagerly, and he glanced at Shadow to see if he'd volunteer.
"It might be a challenge," said Shadow, not as eager to fight as the rest, but their optimism was too infectious to back down from.
"That's great, guys," said Tails, looking amused. "But unless we do a free-for-all, we really don't need that many fighters."
"Hmm…" said the youngest of the Tails as he tried to think of a solution. "Maybe we can do rock-paper-sciss-?"
But before the fox could finish, something came flying out of nowhere fast and crashed into Shadow.
"SHADOW!" shouted the Wachowski brothers, as whatever hit Shadow tackled them both through the portal and out of their sight.
Beyond the portal was a long and massive metal hallway that belonged to some type of facility. Everything in it was bathed in red and blue lights, giving the place an eerie feeling, with massive windows set into the sides and on the floor, showing a floating landmass outside and lava below. Dwarfing Shadow with its size and sprawled out like some kind of dead creature in the middle of the hallway was the giant mech Taller Knuckles had described, blocking the path in one direction.
But Shadow didn't have much time to take in his surroundings as what looked like a giant starfish with an eye in the center came to float in front of him. Its eye glowed and a projection appeared out of it, hovering above Shadow like a ghost.
"Shadow," said the dark creature, taller than any human Shadow had seen, with three glowing eyes and horns growing from its head, and framed by massive horns. "You will do what you were created for!"
Shadow got back to his feet, and let his powers start to build up behind his eyes. "I wasn't created by anyone!" he snapped.
The creature laughed cruelly. "Denial will get you nowhere. I can feel the Black Arms within your blood. You may not have been created by me personally, but our kind have always had you in their grasp. You can feel it too, don't you? Our shared hive mind"
Shadow winced and his fur stood on end as a crawling sensation seemed to grow beneath his skin. Like something slimy and yet not at all physical was trying to crawl inside his veins up into his brain and make itself at home. The longer it lasted, the more painful it became.
"You exist to serve me," the creature continued as if amused by Shadow's growing discomfort. "Even if I did not create you, and therefore can not bestow upon you our kind's gifts, you will still make a suitable vessel from which to recreate the Black Arms."
Shadow let out a burst of his power, chasing away the feeling, and he glared up at the creature. "I serve no one!" he snarled. "Who are you to demand anything of me?"
The creature drew itself up even taller as it proudly proclaimed. "I am the source of the blood in your veins! The reason for your ultimate power. I am Black Doom! I. Am. Your father!"
Shadow looked at the hideous monster in horrified shock.
He could feel it through the horrible sensation trying to burrow its way into his mind as if gloating its intent when there was little he could do to stop it. This thing before him was cruel beyond measure and hungered for death and destruction at every turn, and he had every intention to make Shadow just like him.
Like father, like son.
If that was true, then Maria was wrong. He truly was something terrible, and no amount of choices would change that.
But before Shadow could gather his thoughts, the slimy sensation started up again even stronger than before. He screamed as black liquid-like shadows began swirling around him as if they'd swallow him whole.
Then, a new voice cut in.
"Hey, Darth Vader! Get away from my friend!"
Black Doom wheeled around in time to see a lightning-blue ball of spikes smash itself into the floating cyclops-starfish he was projecting from. At the hit, the projection vanished and broke whatever hold the creature had on Shadow. The spike ball bounced off the starfish and Sonic Wachowski uncurled to land in front of the other hedgehog.
"You okay?" he asked, helping Shadow to his feet.
"I've been better," Shadow admitted, allowing himself to be pulled up, and the two turned back to face the threat.
The starfish shook itself in the air, before turning to glare at them and the eye glowed, but before it could project Black Doom again, a fist struck it, sending it flying into a wall with enough force to leave a dent.
"And you are incorrect that his power comes from you, beast!" snarled Knuckles Wachowski, his fists up ready to deliver another hit. "His power is the same as our own! Unless you created all of us, which you did not, then you have no claim of his might!"
The starfish pried itself off the wall and glared at them again, but was again interrupted before the projection could return, this time by a small boomerang lodging itself in its eye.
"And even if your people did do something to him, his resemblance to hedgehogs from our planet proves he was one of ours first," said Tails Wachowski, his arm still out from having thrown the boomerang.
"So basically," said Sonic standing in front of Shadow and glaring at the now blinded starfish. "Shadow's with us. Back off!"
While the starfish could no longer project Black Doom, it could still speak for him, as it snarled out, "Insolent scum! Perish!"
They all tensed, but then Sonic tilted his head as his ear started to twitch. "Guys, why do I hear boss music?"
Shadow didn't know what 'boss music' meant, but what he did hear was the sound of footsteps that could be heard coming down the tunnel. Out of the darkness came hoards of hulking red and black creatures with large yellow eyes set into their brain-shaped heads. Some were carrying weapons, while others just brandished their sharp clawed hands.
"Where are the others?" asked Shadow. Under normal circumstances he would be confident he could take this many, but if Black Doom tried to do what he did before, his fighting abilities would be handicapped. And with how cheerfully their new acquaintances had been about helping others, it seemed out of character for them not to aid them now.
"This weird gunk like the stuff that ghost made started covering the portal after it knocked you in," said Tails, readying his gadgets for the coming fight.
"We barely made it through before it closed," Sonic added, his powers lighting up in his eyes. "Knuckles nearly lost a shoe to it."
"Unfortunately, our allies are trapped beyond the portal," said Knuckles, setting his fists aflame. "We are on our own."
"But then how did they get in?" asked Shadow, pulling out the gun Tails had given him before.
"The barrier only allows in the Black Arms. More of my spawn," Black Doom's voice said smugly. "No one is coming to save you. Give up Shadow now, children, and I may spare your worthless lives."
"Echidna Warriors do not need saving, and they do not abandon their friends," snapped Knuckles as he launched himself into the air and punched the first one.
With that, the free-for-all started. The dark tunnel was filled with flashes of red, blue, yellow, and gold light as the four used their skills to defend against the seemingly endless army.
"We need a plan, Tails!" Sonic called as he ricocheted off several Black Arms.
Tails used his gravity disks to send more flying and looked around at their area. Spotting the fallen Eggman mech, he said, "If I can get to that mech, I might be able to get it started and even the odds."
"Right," agreed Sonic. "Guys, we need to get Tails over there, to get his Pacific Rim on."
"I shall carve a path with our enemies' bones," said Knuckles eagerly.
Shadow grunted in agreement as he kicked one Black Arms soldier in the head, and shot another in the knee.
But no matter how many Black Arms they took down, they never seemed to get closer to the mech.
And yet, despite that, Shadow was never alone throughout the fight. Every time he turned around there was a flash of blue lightning, a glimpse of a fox tail, or the swing of a flaming fist. No matter what was thrown at them, either Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, or some combination of the three were fighting beside Shadow the entire time.
"He's after you," said Sonic when they both were fighting back to back. "We're not letting him get you alone."
"Focus on yourself," Shadow told him as he shot an alien that tried to sneak up on the blue hedgehog.
But Sonic just zipped over to kick another Black Arms that was coming up behind Shadow. "Kinda missing the point of watching each other's backs if I did that," he said with a grin. His smile was wiped away a second later, and he shouted, "Look out!"
Shadow tried to warp out of the way of whatever he was seeing, but the painful slimy sensation returned, making him stumble and take a hit to the back, and send him falling to the ground.
"Shadow!" shouted Sonic, trying to run over to him, but another Black Arms managed to grab him and held him back.
Around them, Knuckles and Tails also cried out as their distraction by his shouts caused them to be pinned down and held in place.
The Black Arms grabbed Shadow and held him up by his elbows as the horrible sensation continued to spread throughout his body.
"Give in, Shadow!" Black Doom crooned, his starfish mouthpiece floating before him. Already its eye was almost healed from the damage done to it. "You belong to me!"
"Shadow!" shouted Tails worriedly.
"Dishonorable beast!" shouted Knuckles.
Shadow just screamed as it felt like his head was about to split open.
"You belong to the Black Arms!" Black Doom continued. "Soon you will see nothing else matters. Not even these insignificant lifeforms."
"I'll show you insignificant! Let him go!" Sonic shouted, and Shadow could see him and his brothers struggling to reach him even now.
Through the pain, Shadow had to marvel at their continued determination. All three of them had only known him for a day, and yet they were already willing to fight and die beside him.
And… Shadow found he was willing to do the same.
Fighting through the feeling that his skin was peeling off, he reached for his inhibitor rings.
Black Doom's starfish's eye healed just in time to see him release one ring. "Stop him!" he cried.
But it was too late, Shadow managed to undo his second ring, and the Chaos Energy burst out of him in an explosion of power. The energy inside him burned away Black Doom's hold like acid through his veins, and the blast sent all the Black Arms flying as his powers formed a dome around them.
Sonic had to activate his own powers to repel Shadow's and keep him from being fried or knocked out of the dome too, and Knuckles pounced over top of Tails to protect him while doing the same.
"You did it!" Sonic cheered brightly before he saw that the power coming from Shadow wasn't stopping.
His volatile Chaos Energy was keeping the Black Arms at bay, but using it like this was draining Shadow by the second.
Fortunately, that was when backup arrived.
Shadow's Double burst onto the scene with a vengeance and began decimating the Black Arms outside Shadow's sphere of energy with powers that felt not unlike the ones Black Doom had been using to try and take Shadow over.
"Shadow!" Sonic said, fighting his way through the storm of energy to reach him. "Shadow, are you-" He tried to reach out for him, but was shocked for his efforts.
Shadow gritted his teeth and sent Sonic a pointed look. "Get Tails to the machine," he said.
Sonic nodded and turned to his brothers. "Get Tails to the mech," he called. "I'll stay with Shadow!"
Knuckles nodded, and keeping himself and Tails safely within curled up in his power he slowly tried to make his way through the chaos to the giant robot. But the power was too much to do anything quickly, and unless he practically smothered the fox under him, the youngest of them would be zapped.
Not only that, but Shadow could already feel his power starting to burn away at him from the inside out. Using this much at once had its consequences, and those were starting to show if Sonic's continued frantic cries were any indication.
"His rings!" shouted Shadow's Double as he rained glowing spears down on his enemies. "Put his rings back on! They limit his power output!"
Hearing that, Sonic nodded and grabbed the rings from where they'd fallen to the floor.
"I do this, they'll be on us again," Sonic called out to Knuckles. "Be ready to get Tails to the mech before they reach us."
"I will get him there faster than even you, Hedgehog!" Knuckles called back.
"Let's see you do it," Sonic challenged him as he carefully put Shadow's first ring on without touching the hedgehog himself.
Once the ring was attached, the dome of chaos energy reduced, and whatever Black Arms were not being destroyed by Shadow's Double drew in closer, ready to pounce the second it went down.
Sonic sent his brothers one last look, before snapping Shadow's other ring in place.
Immediately Shadow collapsed into the other hedgehog's arms, and their dome of partial safety vanished.
Knuckles was on his feet in a heartbeat carrying Tails to the mech. Sonic followed half a step behind them, carrying Shadow with him as he ran.
Behind them, the Black Arms swarmed in. Shadow's Double fought them back as best he could, and was even reaching for his own inhibitor rings, as if considering removing them himself.
Knuckles practically threw Tails at the driver's seat of the mech, and the fox ripped open the control panel to begin pulling wires.
"Quill!" he said, holding a hand out, and Knuckles didn't hesitate to slap one of his glowing red quills into his hand, Sonic did the same with one of his once they reached them, and Shadow shakily reached up to give one of his own.
"Save your energy," Tails told him as he inserted the red and blue quills into the machine. "You used a lot of it just now."
"You okay, Shadow?" asked Sonic, setting him down on the side of the driver's seat. Whoever this mech had been built for must have been quite large, as there was enough room for all four of them to squeeze into the seat.
"I'll be fine," Shadow assured them. "So long as we survive, that is."
"Working on it," Tails said, crossing one last set of wires.
All of a sudden, the mech whirred to life, and a glass shield slid into place around the driver's seat, making it look like the four of them were inside a giant marble.
"Alright, let's see what this thing can do," said Tails, grabbing the controls and starting the thing up.
The mech rose into the air and loomed over the Black Arms with its weapons primed to fire.
Tails readied the missiles and grinned. "Payback time."
Shadow had raced away from Maria and the professor at top speed.
He needed to find his counterpart! He had to reach him in time! He had to stop Black Doom before he could possess that child!
Because that is what the Professor theorized was Black Doom's plan. To use Shadow's connection to the Black Arms to either take him over or bind him to Black Doom's will.
He was the reason that child (because that's what his counterpart still was, a child) was even here in the first place. Because if he'd tried to do what Sonic called 'a good thing' and Black Doom was able to enslave him because of that…
Shadow couldn't think about that. He would stop Black Doom. He would not allow himself to fail.
When he reached the section of the void full of locations from Sonic's past, he saw just about every person the blue hedgehog had ever interacted with fighting off an army of Black Arms while trying to get into a portal set into a giant set of gears. But a dark ooze was covering the portal, allowing all Black Arms past but repelling anyone else. Not that that stopped two of the Sonics who would bounce off the portal trying to beat through the ooze to get in.
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted, throwing his chaos energy at a Black Warrior about to leap at Amy.
"What's happening?" he asked.
"They just came out of nowhere," Amy said as she mashed another Black Warrior with her hammer. "They grabbed Stripes and took him into the portal. Blue, Red, and Miles managed to jump in before it closed. Since then, these guys have been coming out to try and kill us, but we can't go in."
"It must have been a trap," said Knuckles as he uppercut a Black Oak into the air. "I should have done a more thorough search when I looked through the portal. I just saw the downed Egg-robot and thought that was it."
"It seems like only the Black Arms can get in and out of the portal now," said the older Tails from where he was shielding his younger self and Cream.
Even as he said that another shockwave of energy burst out of the portal, sweeping across the land and knocking the Black Arms soldiers back. It seems that whatever was happening within the portal, the children were still fighting.
Seeing this, Sonic and his younger counterpart tried to get through the portal again, but were still repelled back.
"Only the Black Arms, hmm," said Shadow as his new powers boiled within him.
Then, with a burst of speed, he shot through the fight, taking out any Black Arms in his way as he made a beeline for the portal.
"Hey! Shadow, wait-!" Sonic called after him, but Shadow launched himself at the portal and used his newly gained Doom Morph ability.
He passed through the ooze easily and returned to his normal form once on the other side of the portal.
The sight that met him there was better than he'd feared, but still grim.
Within a pocket of an old Eggman facility, the army of Black Arms soldiers had the counterparts surrounded but were unable to reach them as Shadow's Counterpart had unleashed his inhibitor rings to use his excess energy as a makeshift shield, though it was clear doing so was draining him quickly.
Within the shield, Sonic's counterpart and Knuckles' counterpart were both using their own powers like an opposing magnetic force to repel the turbulent Chaos Energy from frying them, but seemed unable to do anything further as Knuckles had to protect Tails' counterpart beneath him, and Sonic was frantically trying to help Shadow's Counterpart.
"His rings!" Shadow yelled as he began decimating his enemies. "Put his rings back on! They limit his power output!"
He only paid enough attention to note that Sonic listened to him, before focusing on the Black Arms.
He'd taken out several with the powers he'd learned since arriving here when Doom's Eye appeared to taunt him.
"Why do you continue to struggle, Shadow," Black Doom snarled through his proxy. "This is what you were created to do. I will have you both one way or the other."
"Bold words for one who failed to take over a child," Shadow snapped back. Because if he'd succeeded, the scene Shadow would have walked in on would have been very different.
But if Black Doom was at all bothered by it he gave no indication. "Even now, you grow more like me," Black Doom taunted. "Your ruthlessness grows like hunger, and your anger is insatiable. Perhaps… I need to threaten those you care about more often."
Shadow roared in fury, taking out a swath of Black Arms with a Doob Blast. "Touch them and I tear you to pieces," he said, sending a Doom Spear at the eye.
"We shall see," was Black Doom's final taunt as the eye dodged the attack and fled the scene.
While it was good Black Doom was no longer observing the fight directly, that didn't mean his forces weren't still baring down on him.
He continued to fight off the Black Arms and was just considering releasing his own inhibitor rings before the sound of mechanical parts gained his attention. He turned to see Tails had managed to get control of an Eggman mech and was leveling its weapons at the remaining Black Arms.
With a shout of "Chaos Control!" Shadow shot up to the mech's shoulders.
Tails sent him a grateful look from the driver's seat, before opening fire on the Black Arms, with Shadow sending Doom Spears down as well to take them out.
Finally, the last of the Black Arms fell, and the glow of the cyan Chaos Emerald filled their vision.
Shadow, being the one on the outside, reached out and took it as Tails shut down the Eggman mech and pulled the quills he'd used to power it free.
The second the hatch on the driver's seat opened, Shadow looked at the four of them.
"We're good," Sonic called to his unasked question as he helped Shadow's Counterpart down from the mech with his arm slung over his shoulder. "Thanks for the heroic rescue."
Shadow grunted and sent one last set of his most powerful Doom Spears at the film still covering the portal and it burned the barrier away, allowing them to finally leave.
They exited the portal to cheers from Sonic, his friends, and Rouge who were waiting outside, the lot of them having taken down what Black Arms had been attacking outside the portal while they fought inside.
"Great job, Shadow," said the Sonic he was more familiar with, coming up to congratulate him. "You really saved the day."
Maybe it was leftover adrenaline from the fight. Maybe it was the thought that his actions nearly delivered another version of himself to Black Doom on a silver platter. Maybe it was just Sonic's stupid face, but at his words, something inside Shadow just snapped.
"Saved the day?" he snarled, making Sonic rear back, and the cheerful camaraderie from winning the battle vanished. "Black Doom nearly enslaved my counterpart! I thought you said you would watch them!"
"Shadow-" Sonic tried to say, but Shadow's Counterpart spoke up behind him.
"And we would have known to look out for that if you had told us it was a possibility!" the shorter hedgehog said, pushing himself away from his version of Sonic to come over and glare at Shadow.
At any other time, Shadow would have understood his anger. The lack of information given had nearly gotten his counterpart and the only people he'd come to know since awakening killed. But right now, Shadow was too full of rage for any sympathy.
"I told you Black Doom was a threat!" Shadow snapped back.
"And I had no idea who that even is!" his counterpart declared, some of his Chaos Energy sparking back to life and glowing along his quills in his anger. "From what you said, he's just a strange moon! But apparently, he's my father? Is that true?"
"He is nobody's father!" Shadow snarled, matching his counterpart's anger with his own, and the inky black of his Doom powers began to swirl around him. "He is just a parasite who contributed DNA! You were supposed to stay out of his sight!"
"It would have been nice to know that sooner!" Shadow's counterpart growled. "Before he nearly killed us all!"
Shadow's fists clenched in rage. "Then there will be no more mistakes!" he said sharply. "I will crush them all! And you will stay out of my way!"
"So you say, and yet your problems keep finding me and my friends anyway!" accused his counterpart with an angry hiss.
Two sets of glowing red eyes glowered at each other, ready to spring into a fight at a moment's notice. Both their respective Sonics tried to calm them down, but their words fell on deaf ears, and everyone else shrunk back to avoid the power lashing around them in their fury.
Then, the one voice that could make a difference cut in.
"Shadow, no!"
Even with their respective powers still flowing around them, the two Ultimate Lifeforms turned to see Omega flying towards them on his rockets, carrying Professor Robotnik and Maria in his arms. The second the robot landed, Maria raced across the ground to grab one of each of the Shadows' hands in her own.
Seeing this, Rouge quickly waved everyone back to give them some privacy, and Omega helped her enforce it. Something Shadow would have been grateful for if he'd been in the right headspace.
"Maria?" asked Shadow.
"What are you doing here?" asked his counterpart.
Maria just looked at the both of them tearfully. "It breaks my heart to see you both so full of anger," she said, looking each of them in the eyes. "This isn't who you are."
She took a breath to calm herself. "Do you know why I named you 'Shadow'?" She asked. "Because without light there is only darkness, but a shadow will show you where to find the light. Do you understand?"
At the mention of 'light', Shadow's Counterpart drooped and his powers faded away.
Maria spared him a relieved look, before focusing her attention on Shadow. "I don't want you to be driven by darkness. I want you to be happy. Stand in the light with peace in your heart."
Shadow felt his own powers fading as he calmed down, but her words… he wasn't ready to hear them.
So he pulled his hand free of hers, threw the newly acquired Cyan Chaos Emerald at Sonic's head, and skated away.
A/N There was no way I was going to do a fic with Movie Sonic in the same vicinity as Black Doom and not make a Darth Vader reference. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. Anywho, I hope I did alright with this. We hear Black Doom wants to take Shadow over, but we never actually see it unless that's part of the pain in the cutscenes where he gets new powers. But however Black Doom tried, I'm sure it would be painful. Thankfully, Movie Team Sonic and Game Shadow to the rescue. Still pretty overwhelming odds, but thankfully there was a mech with a lot of firepower handy for Tails to use. Was Movie Shadow named by Maria? I dunno, but it's possible he didn't have a name until she arrived.
SSSSS
Movie Team Sonic, scuffed up but still raring to fight: We SAID we're ride or die for Shadow, and that was a THREAT!
Movie Shadow:... (｡◕.◕｡)
Movie Shadow: You know what, I'm ride or die for them too.
SSSSS
Black Doom: No! The Power of Friendship! My one weakness!
Game Shadow: You're about to get another one, *cocks gun*
SSSSS
Modern Sonic: Sooooo we all saw Shadow turn into an octopus-thing to get through that portal right?
Game Knuckles: Sonic, we're fighting hoards of evil aliens, is now really the time?
Modern Tails: Besides, it's not like Shadow would tell us even if we asked.
Modern Sonic: Just wanted to be sure I'm not seeing things.
SSSSS
Game Shadow: You utterly failed as a babysitter. You're fired!
Modern Sonic: That's fair.
Game Shadow: That said, I'm still leaving them with you while I go off to have a crisis.
Modern Sonic: Should I be concerned about-
Game Shadow: NO! *chucks an emerald at Sonic's head, BONK*
SSSSS
Check out my art on Tumblr
SSSSS
POVs Movie Shadow, then Game Shadow
SSSSS
Nicknames
Movie Sonic: Blue, Sonic Wachowski
Modern Sonic: Older Sonic, Taller Sonic
Classic Sonic: Smaller Sonic, Mini-Me, Mini-Sonic
Movie Tails: Miles, Tails Wachowski
Classic Tails: Lil'Tails, Younger Tails, Smallest Tails
Modern Tails: Older Tails, Taller Tails
Movie Knuckles: Red, Knuckles Wachowski
Game Knuckles: Taller Knuckles
Movie Shadow: Stripes, Shadow's Counterpart, Other Shadow
Game: Shadow: Shadow's Double